Disclaimer: Have I ever claimed to own anything? I did? Oh... Well I lied!

Author's Note: This has gone from PG13 to R because I've used WAY more bad language than a 13 year old should read in, chapter two and I don't want to be banned from

Thanks for all the reviews guys. You rock!

To Catherine: I'm sorry if you don't like my use of Irish for spells instead of Latin but I say 'why not!' It's not that terrible. And also, I tried to look up that wed site but couldn't find it, thanks anyway.

This chapter is about a year after chapter one and two.

Chapter 3: Revelation

Snape kneeled down next to Dumbledore. The Hogwarts Headmaster had been hit in a fight with Death Eaters. The Death Eaters had all either been killed or escaped by the time Snape had reach them. Order members were helping those who had fallen or tending to their own wounds. Snape noticed Harry Potter helping his friend to stand. It was Ronald Weasley if Snape's memory served him.

The Potion's Master looked down at his mentor and friend.

"Severus?" a voice came from behind him.

Snape didn't bother to turn around. "I'm no longer your patient, Potter. We have no need to be on a first name basis."

Harry ignored the comment. "How have you been?"

"Not as bad as most people here."

"That wasn't what I asked!"

"If you must know I've been with Voldemort. It was lucky I was told to help the Death Eaters otherwise I would be there when they get back."

"What's wrong with that?" Harry asked.

"You don't think Voldemort takes failure lightly, do you? He was already in a bad mood - more than usual."

Dumbledore groaned and Snape was down on him like a shot. "Albus?" he whispered.

"I'm fine, Severus. No need to worry yourself."

"Like I would worry about an old death dodger like you." Harry knew this was Snape's way of joking with the Headmaster.

"Good," Dumbledore laughed. He stood up slowly. Snape took his arm. "Severus, I fine!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes now you should help Harry, here, with the rest of the injured."

"Yes Headmaster." Snape turned to walk away with Harry when he suddenly collapsed, clutching his head.

Snape's Vision:

"You offered Severus Snape the potions position?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes I did Minerva. The boy deserves it."

"That he does. He's a young man now, Albus. With a wife and three children to support." McGonagall said as she walked out of Dumbledore's office.

"Not after tonight," Dumbledore muttered. He looked at the ceiling, "I'm sorry I have to let it happen, Severus but the Order needs a spy. I have foreseen it and I must follow it. I only hope it won't effect you too much."

End Vision

Snape gasped for air. He looked over to see that Dumbledore was also clutching his own head.

"You knew?" Snape almost whimpered.

"Severus I-"

Snape cut him off. "You fucking bastard! You knew what was going to happen to them and you wanted it to!" Snape was in full fury.

"Severus, you have to understand that The Order-"

"Fuck the fucking Order. You as good as murdered them yourself!"

"What are you ranting on about, Snape?" Moody demanded, hobbling up to see what the commotion was about.

Snape didn't hear him. He lunged at The Order leader. "Bastard! They were innocent," he was screaming.

Harry could only watch as six men dragged Snape off of Dumbledore.

"You butchered them for your precious Order!"

Everyone, minus Snape and Dumbledore, were totally lost in the one sided argument.

"What's gotten into you, Snape? When have you ever cared that an innocent person could die?" Moody demanded.

Snape ignored them. "They were innocent" he screamed as he was pinned to the floor, struggling to get free.

'Mad-Eye' Moody thumped him. "Don't you go ranting at Dumbledore like that? What's he ever done to you? Besides making the mistake of trusting you, that is."

Snape licked the blood from his cut lip before answering. "Why don't you ask the great Albus Dumbledore what he done wrong? Go on, ask him," he said calmly when nobody moved. "Ask him how I became his spy. Ask him why I've thumped him before."

"Why you little..." Moody was about to give Snape a good whacking when -

"Alaster," Dumbledore called. "He's right. I acted reckless and made a terrible mistake."

Snape snorted. "Some mistake."

"Shut up, Snape"

"No, Alaster. He has every right to be angry right now!"

"Damn right, fucking prick." Snape muttered.

"Albus, what's going on," McGonagall asked gently.

"Are you sure you want them to know, Severus."

"I have no reason to protect you, Headmaster," Snape sneered back.

"Very well then. Where do I start... Well when Severus graduated from Hogwarts he married a woman named Aoife McCarthy."

"The Ravenclaw girl?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes. Now I ask you not to interrupt me as I tell you."

Everyone nodded. Harry already knew the story, well half of it. He was interested to know what Severus had just found out. It was obvious that a mind link between the two had passed some vision or memory to Severus from Albus, Harry mused. He listened to what Dumbledore was saying.

"...and I offered him the Potions position when he was twenty. The triplets were nearly one year old by then, I think."

"Five months old," Snape interrupted. He was going to enjoy it when the Headmaster ruined his perfect reputation.

"Yes, well... He came to Hogwarts to finalize the details. When he reached his home his found his brother at the front door. He was dead. Aoife, his two sons and his daughter were also dead."

"Your leaving horrible part out, oh wise one," Snape said sarcastically.

"Severus-"

"No. I think they should know just how brutal it was." He looked around. "I hope no one's queasy," he smile cruelly.

Harry knew that the vision must have been bad. Snape had broken down the last time he talked about his family's deaths.

"As he said, I found my brother dead. I feared the worst but I couldn't have imagine how bad it was. Aoife and Christopher had obviously been hit by a curse. There was no visible damage... except that they were dead. Alexander wasn't lucky enough to have a quick painless death. I found him in the next room with his head smashed in. A hammer or something I expect. Then I found Samantha. She was alive. Unfortunately she had been hit with the Deimhin Eag curse. She died in my arms."

There was a collective gasp among the listeners.

Snape wasn't smiling anymore, his eyes were closed and his face turned away. "Well I think that Dumbledore should continue from there!"

They all looked at Dumbledore. Snape knew that Dumbledore was upset when he looked at him. 'And he deserves it' he thought.

Dumbledore coughed. "Severus came to me but left in anger. He wanted revenge on the ministry worker that had killed his family. At least he thought it was the ministry worker. Severus joined the Death Eater's that night. He found and killed the man only to find that Lucius Malfoy had used the Polyjuice Potion to look like the ministry worker. He came to me again, the very same night, and offered to be my spy."

"So you gave him a job after he killed the guy by accident. Why would he be angry," Molly Weasley asked. She had fought with the other Order members and had stayed to help with injuries.

"Well he wasn't angry at me then. He blamed himself for their deaths until to day."

"What makes today any different." It was Moody again.

"Well when both Severus and I collapsed, I accidentally sent him a memory."

People were worried now. What could their leader have done that was so bad?

"When I had offered him a job I had a vision. I 'seen' his family being killed."

"They weren't killed," Snape interrupted. The listeners were mortified to see that the cold, heartless Severus Snape had tears running down his face. He didn't seem to notice. "They weren't killed. They were butchered. That bastard that you all worship knew they would die. He let me go home to find him. He WANTED it to happen. AND you let me go off to kill the young ministry worker too."

"Nobody regrets their deaths more than I, Severus," Dumbledore said softly.

"I regret them!" Snape snapped at him. "I regret that I ever considered working for you. That I worked for the person who let them die! What I want to know is why they had to die."

"We needed you to spy."

"I would have joined Voldemort as your spy if they were alive."

"I don't think you would have, Severus."

"Even if I didn't, what right did YOU have to let them die for my services."

"Severus-"

"Only my friends and my wife call me Severus. You are neither!"

Dumbledore looked away. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. He could have never have imagined the loss that Severus felt. The pain from missing them or the betrayal he felt when he saw the vision.

"You're sorry?" Snape sneered. "Aoife used to say a man is judged by his actions, not his words. You're a man whose words mean nothing to me! And your vision was worth the thousand words you would never have spoken." he whispered the last sentence.

The men who had been restraining him had released him at some point in the story. He stood up and walked away, leaving Dumbledore to deal with the dozen glaring faces. For the first time they were all directed at Albus himself.

Harry was so angry with Dumbledore. He glared at him like he was shit on his shoe. "How did I ever look up to you," he sneered. Harry turned and ran to Snape, putting a hand on his shoulders.

"I don't want your pity, Potter."

"You don't have my pity, Severus. But neither does Dumbledore. He made his bed, now he can lay in it. You only have my friendship"

Snape smiled. "Thank you... Harry."

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